John Singer Sargent

John Singer Sargent, (born January 12, 1856, Florence, Italy—died April 15, 1925, London, England), Italian-born American painter whose elegant portraits provide an enduring image of Edwardian Age society. The wealthy and privileged on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean came to his studio in London to be immortalized.

Sargent was reared abroad and first saw the United States in 1876, when he established citizenship. Serious and reserved, he had a talent for drawing, and in 1874 he went to Paris to study painting with Carolus-Duran, a fashionable society portraitist. During this time he also began to experiment with the techniques of the Impressionists. ... (100 of 629 words)